Effectiveness of Online Compassion-Focused Group Therapy on Depression, Anxiety and Chronic Fatigue Severity of Multiple Sclerosis in Female Patients

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (M.S) is the most common debilitating disease that also affects thephysical, mental, and social functioning of patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate theeffectiveness of online compassion therapy on depression, anxiety and chronic fatigue severity infemale patients with multiple sclerosis.Method: The present study was a pre-test, post-test applied and experimental study with a controlgroup. The sample consisted of 30 patients with multiple sclerosis living in Shiraz in 2020 whowere selected by convenience sampling method. They randomly divided into experimental andcontrol groups. Participants were tested on the Depression, Anxiety, and Chronic Fatigue Scales,and an online compassion-based treatment plan was presented to the experimental group in 8 twohour sessions. Descriptive statistics and covariance test were used to analyze the data.Result: Patients showed a significant improvement in the severity of symptoms in all threevariables. The results showed a significant difference in depression, anxiety and chronic fatigueseverity scores between the groups at posttest (P <0.001).Conclusion: Online CFT can be used as an effective therapy to improve mental disorders andmental health of MS patients in case of evidence for proof of effectiveness of CFT. So, onlinecompassion-focused group therapy can reduce the negative psychological consequences of peoplewith multiple sclerosis by reducing negative emotions and increasing a person's attention toimproving their condition.Declaration of Interest: Non